The Australia-born singer, songwriter, and producer Blake Rose, introduced his soulful lyrics and alternative pop sounds to the world  back in 2018. His first single, “Hotel Room, ” with its stylized mix of guitar and airy electronic beats, amassed a million streams during the first months of its release. The momentum continued throughout 2019 with “Lost.” The single ignited further buzz, with an impressive response. On the heels of “Lady,” he kicked off 2020 with “Gone.” Having only started his music career, Blake Rose is already an artist to watch. 

Born to “a nomadic family” in Perth, Blake discovered his voice on long car trips to campsites across the Australian countryside. Plugged into his iPod shuffle, he sang along to the likes ofSimple Plan, Eminem and Coldplay in the backseat. At 14 accompanied by his acoustic and a laptop, he joined his parents for a massive three-month road trip around the continent. By the end of the trip, he realized, “I want to do this all the time!” 

Most recently, Rose recorded “Lost” with a group of friends from Perth after returning home from LA. The live session was released in July and follows him in an empty building where the band plays to his emotional lyrics about a heartbreak. That video was followed by visuals from his latest single, “Ordinary People.” V MAN spoke with Rose about his situation in Australia during the lockdown, how he’s adapted and about new releases and music he’s been working on.

V MAN What was it like in Australia when you first returned home in March?

BLAKE ROSE I actually got back to Australia JUST before they implemented all of the heavy restrictions. A couple of days after I arrived they introduced this law where any incoming travellers had to do 2 weeks quarantine in a designated Hotel which luckily I avoided. After that they started locking down the state and we weren’t able to travel more than about 2 hours NESW. Pretty much everything was closed as well except essential stores. These heavy restrictions only really lasted about a month which is when we saw case numbers decrease almost down to 0 and no community spread. Since then it’s been a steady ease back into normality.

VM What is it like now?

BR Currently we are able to do pretty much anything. All clubs and bars are open but the only restriction is that venues are to operate at 50% capacity. Other than that everyone’s attitude is very much as if none of this ever happened which is slightly concerning but seen as we have a premier who is incredibly sensible and has been very successful in containing the virus in our state I’ve got peace of mind.

VM How did the lockdown affect your creative process?

BR Lockdown didn’t really affect my creative process at all as I was basically doing what I always do.

VM As someone who was already used to working alone, was there anything else that changed in the way you work?

BR The only thing that changed is I started doing some zoom songwriting sessions. It’s super weird doing those because usually there’s a certain energy/vibe that you create with a person in the studio and you’re both submerged in it and are locked in with each other. The zoom approach definitely takes a bit of patience of open mindedness.

VM What was it like working with a band for “Lost” during a time of social distancing?

BR Luckily social distancing wasn’t really a thing anymore once I started working with the band as restrictions had already heavily eased so we didn’t have to worry about that.

VM How does it feel to know that Zane Lowe premiered “Lost” on Beats1 and Taylor Swift added it to her “Playlist by ME!” on Apple Music?

BR Both of those are wild. I’ve been a fan of Zane from watching the interviews he does with artists which are absolute awesome so to have him like one of my songs enough to want to premier it was amazing. The Taylor Swift thing was incredibly unexpected. Like out of absolute no where and who would ever predict that. Just the sheer fact that she’s heard my song makes me trip out. I think she’s a phenomenal artist and songwriter so having that kind of endorsement is crazy to me!

VM You’ve had a busy year, how do you stay focused during such strange times?

BR I’m definitely not focused all the time, that’s for sure. One thing I try to do as much as I can is put my phone down because you can so easily get sucked into everything that’s happening on social media. Things are changing every day and you constantly feel like you need to know what’s happening which is super distracting.

VM Tell us about “Ordinary People” and the story behind it?

BR Ordinary People is about a brief but unforgettable period of time I spent with a girl in LA. We met on a night out, went on a couple of dates and before I knew it I was absolutely head over heels. I took her to this lookout I knew about on our first date and we sat there on a picnic blanket for hours just talking about life until it started raining. That was probably one of my favourite memories from LA and the artwork for Ordinary People is actually the same lookout that we went to. We hung out over a couple of weeks but it met a quick end when I realised I was basically just a rebound and she didn’t feel the same way, or if she did, I knew it was never going to be as deep. Wasn’t the best feeling but I got a song out of it so who’s complaining?

VM Your new video really captures the mood of “Ordinary People,” how did you come up with the concept?

BR I originally wanted to perform this at the actual lookout you see in the single artwork, but being that it is in LA and I’m currently in Perth, that wasn’t possible. The video’s director, Matt Sav and I tried to find a location that evoked a similar feeling and vibe as the original lookout where I took this girl on our first date. I’m happy with how it turned out.

VM What can you tell us about new music you’re working on?

BR There’s definitely a little bit of a vibe switch coming up. Not a drastic change sonically I’ve got some up beat tunes on the way which I’m really excited about. There is also a “hand swayer” meets “driving on the freeway with the top down” vibe in the works too.